Diferrence between my Audio research Sp16l and benchmark DAC1

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic. Read 845 times.

pmarun

Hi,

Had some questions

Is there a difference between using my DAC1 as a pre and using my DAC1 as a DAC feeding my AR SP16l pre-amp ? is there a difference between the was the signal is amplified between the two pieces of equipment ?
What is the difference between using the DAC1 in a Fixed and Variable volume setting ?

I changed the dac1 fixed volume setting to variable, turned the volume knob to full, connected it to my integrated tube amp and found that the bass output of my b&w 802 Matrix s3 had increased a lot.

Appreciate you response.

Thanks.

sts9fan

The DAC will not have any gain so depending on your amp and speakers you may not reach the same levels.

Davey

  • Full Member
  • Posts: 1481
Read the owners manual of your DAC1 and it will explain the voltage level capabilities on both the variable and fixed (calibrated) settings.  There are also tweakers inside the DAC1 that can be used to fine-tune the fixed settings.

With 0dbFS digital signal level, the DAC1 will output approximately 3VRMS in the variable mode with the volume pot CW, and about 2VRMS in the calibrated mode regardless of volume control position.  There are some internal attenuators available also, but those are only on the XLR outputs.

Cheers,

Dave.